In county cricket, players are often granted a benefit season if they’ve spent 10 years with a club.

It’s the same in football, a decade is considered to be the benchmark – although not many footballers spend that long with one club these days!

And if the same ‘rules’ were observed in hockey then Rob Fynn would be looking forward to his third testimonial season.

That’s because the 41-year-old has spent the past 29 years with Stroud Hockey Club and is still a player, head coach and junior coordinator today.

In fact, as sporting CVs go, Fynn’s has to be one of the better ones because in his time at the club he has also been 1st XI captain, 2nd XI captain, mixed team captain, fixture secretary and umpire coordinator.

That’s a pretty impressive list and there are undoubtedly many other jobs he has done for the good of Stroud Hockey Club over the years as well.

Fynn joined Stroud at the age of 12 after a short spell living away from the area after his family moved to Scotland.

“I started playing hockey at Marling School,” he said. “My mum always thought I’d play rugby – I’m pretty much a prop size – but I always thought rugby was a blunt instrument while hockey was much more skills based.”

While In Scotland he had played a bit of rugby – “I wanted to be a hooker but they said we have skinny hookers here!” recalled Fynn – and he also did quite a bit of swimming, but it was very much hockey for Fynn when he returned south, particularly after he met Terry Allen at Stroud Hockey Club.

“He had just started a youth team and a number of us played for him,” continued Fynn. “We played all over the county and also went to places like Bath.

“I started off playing up front but he put in the back line and I’ve played there ever since. These days I play sweeper, I’ve got no pace but for me it’s all about game management and skill on the ball.”

It’s fair to say that Fynn is a pretty natural sportsman because he plays off four at golf – he’s a member at Minchinhampton New Course – and also played league tennis for Minchinhampton.

He got his first taste of first-team hockey at Stroud at the age of 16 or 17 and established himself as regular in the flagship side at the age of 20, a position he would hold for 13 years.

And for much of that period – and beyond – he has been coaching too.

“I started coaching at about the age of 22,” he said. “There was an initiative at the club to have more coaches and it all went from there.”

It certainly did because Fynn was soon helping to coach the club’s juniors and the men as well as coaching county boys’ age group and development teams.

He took on sole responsibility for coaching the men at Stroud Hockey Club at the age of 25 or 26 and has done it every year since as well as looking after the junior section.

He still plays – of course he does – and ask him if prefers coaching or playing he’ll say “playing” without a moment’s hesitation, adding: “It’s all about playing, if I’m not playing I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be coaching.

“I did my ACL when I was 23 and I couldn’t play for six months. I coached and umpired but I had a terrible time!”

It may not be his favourite role but Fynn still umpired 31 games last season so clearly he is happy to continue to put the club first before himself.

“I umpired all the men’s 1st team home games,” he said. “As long as I get enough playing time I’m happy.”

It’s a fair bet that the powers-that-be at Stroud are already doing everything they can to ensure Fynn gets plenty of chances to have a runout for whatever team he wants in the weeks, months and years ahead just to ensure that he remains a big part of the club.

But maybe they shouldn’t have to worry too much because his 13-year-old son Harry, a pupil at Deer Park School in Cirencester, is proving a bit of a chip off the old block when it comes to hockey.

“He’s playing centre-midfield at Stroud and he’s in the county set-up,” said proud dad.

“He also plays cricket for Minchinhampton and Randwick for football.”

Clearly he’s a bit of a sporting all-rounder, just like his dad!